The Virtues, or The Examined Life

Description

The chief characteristic of Christian morality is its being linked to the person of Jesus Christ who is himself the universal, personal and concrete norm of moral action. This book is about the virtues of the Christian life - both the theological virtues (faith, hope, and charity) and the cardinal virtues (prudence, justice, fortitude and temperance) - and it deals particularly with the question: how it is possible for believers to decide the moral good and to live accordingly? Reflecting on the basic questions of Christian morality, the book offers a commentary on the corresponding sections of the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

[bad] "While the author of this handbook of Catholic theology addresses the virtues from a traditional perspective, the book offers very little to the contemporary debate on 'virtue,' 'justice' and 'duty.'" --Catholic Library World, December 002 "provides a thorough introduction to Aquinas's theology of the virtues. The great achievement of the book consists in displaying how the analysis of the theological and cardinal virtues provides a richly textured, supply outline of the Christian life...Cessario successfully advances in concrete form a tradition-constituted and ecclesially normed moral theology." --Matthew Levering, The Thomist, January 2003 "A distinguished contribution to an international series of 'handbooks of Catholic theology,' this one by a Dominican teaching at St. John's Seminary in Boston...This is one handbook that theologians and moralists will want to keep at hand." -First Things * Blurb from reviewer * "For close to fifteen years now, moral theologians have benefited from the prolific work of Fr. Romanus Cessario in the area of moral theology. While churning out first-rate books and articles at a rapid pace, his expertise as a former teacher of dogmatic theology is evident in all of his work-and the present book under review, The Virtues, or the Examined Life, is no exception...[A]dd Cessarios's retrieval of the Thomistic moral tradition in The Virtues to a growing list of superb Thomistically-inspired works of moral theology in English. It will serve as a breath of fresh air for those used to a legalistic moral theology framed in categories of law obligation." -Mark S. Latkovic, Josephinum Journal of Theology * Blurb from reviewer * "C.'s discussion of justice is the most brilliant and helpful in this work...As we read his [Cessario's] rigorous analysis and observe his devotion of Mary, we see that C. himself is demonstrating the virtues of knowledge and piety in his theological reflection." -Theological Studies, 6/04 -- G. Simon Harak, S.J. * Theological Studies *